South Korea's economic growth seems to be "moderating" as lingering external risks are weighing on the nation's exports and manufacturing segment, a state-run think tank said Wednesday.
"The Korean economy showed moderating growth mainly in exports and the manufacturing industry due to continuing external uncertainties," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its monthly economy assessment report.
Its assessment is in line with the government's report on Tuesday, which also raised concerns that the global economy might slip into a recession amid uncertainties from the eurozone debt crisis.
The KDI report is based on the latest economic data including consumer prices, industrial output, exports and employment.
The nation's industrial output, in particular, expanded 6.2 percent in October from a year earlier but it shrank 0.7 percent from the previous month, after rebounding in September, the data showed.
Inflation also remains high. The nation's consumer prices jumped 4.2 percent in November from a year earlier, which is higher than the government's annual inflation target of 4 percent.
The KDI, however, cited labor market conditions as some positive spots in the economy, referring to the October unemployment rates and the number of jobs being created.
South Korea's jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent in October, down from 3 percent in the previous month. The economy added 501,000 jobs over the past year, the largest increase in 17 months.
The think tank said that the global economy appears to be growing "at a gradually slower pace," affected by the ongoing fiscal crisis in Europe and economic slowdown in advanced countries.
It added that the financial markets also face "greater" uncertainties but noted that the recent decisions by major economies to expand liquidity provision seem to have helped stabilize the market situations.
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